BELVIDERE — Chrysler Group LLC will discontinue two of the three models built at its Belvidere assembly plant in 2016, but workers there may gain one new model.

The Jeep Compass and Patriot will be discontinued midway through 2016, according to a five-year plan released today by Chrysler Group LLC. At the same time, the company will begin production of the Chrysler 100, a compact sedan.

The Compass and Patriot, both compact SUVs, are built at Chrysler’s Belvidere assembly plant along with the Dodge Dart, a compact sedan introduced in 2012. The plant employs more than 4,500 people, making it the area’s largest employer.

Chrysler plans to replace the Compass and Patriot with a single compact SUV. Currently Jeep production occurs at four plants in the U.S., and by 2018 Jeeps will be built at 10 plants in six countries, company officials said.

The Dodge Dart will continue to be built in Belvidere with a new design and style planned for 2016. At that time the company also will begin building a souped-up SRT version of the Dart.

On Tuesday, the company would not disclose where the Compass/Patriot replacement or Chrysler 100 will be built, but the production timelines match up. The new Chrysler 100 would begin production at the same time the Patriot and Compass were being discontinued.

Karl Brauer, senior auto analyst at California-based Kelley Blue Book, said the Chrysler 100 will be built in Belvidere.

“It wouldn’t make sense to build it anywhere else,” Brauer said. “The tooling for a compact sedan is already in place in Belvidere and the workers are there and they’ll have the capacity without the Patriot and Compass.”

The fact that the company will be pinning its hopes on the Dart and another compact sedan in Belvidere in 2016 has to be a concern for the local work force.

The Compass and Patriot were launched in 2006 and 2007 after the plant was reconfigured to build the old Dodge Caliber.

The Patriot, which has a more traditional boxy look, has always been a solid seller and in 2013 dealers in the U.S. sold 75,807 of them. This year, the Patriot is on pace for more than 85,000 sales.

The Compass struggled at first and many analysts thought the more rounded Jeep would be discontinued in 2009 when Fiat SpA took over Chrysler. That year just 15,894 Compasses sold in the U.S. Fiat, however, redesigned the Compass, making it look like a smaller Jeep Grand Cherokee, and in 2013 dealers sold 52,993 Compasses. This year, dealers are on pace to sell more than 57,000.

Page 2 of 2 - The Dart was launched in 2012 to great fanfare because it was the first vehicle developed jointly by Fiat and Chrysler. It also was Chrysler’s first compact sedan for the U.S. market since discontinuing the Dodge Neon in 2005.

Although the Dart has won numerous quality awards, it hasn’t sold well. Dealers in the U.S. sold 83,338 Darts in 2013, its first full year on the market. The Caliber, in comparison, had 101,079 sales in 2007, its first full year on the market. And through April this year Dart sales are running nearly 30 percent behind 2013’s pace in part because Chrysler is heavily discounting other models such as the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Avenger, taking buyers away from the Dart.

Brauer said Chrysler workers in Belvidere should be concerned if the plant goes to just Dart and Chrysler 100 production.

“The Chrysler 100 will not, at least at initially, have 130,000 in sales in the U.S.,” Brauer said. “But (Chrysler CEO Sergio) Marchionne is very committed to growing the Chrysler brand and he’s going to need a competitive compact sedan. He’s going to put a lot of resources behind the (Chrysler) 100.”